Buy Portable GPS

The newly redesigned Magellan RoadMate 1220 GPS device boasts a 3.5-Inch color touch screen and ultra-thin design, delivering powerful navigation in a compact package. This easy-to-use device gives you confidence while on the road with premium features including: the exclusive OneTouch menu, QuickSpell with SmartCity search, millions of points of interest, spoken street names, multi-destination routing, and pre-loaded maps of the contiguous United States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. The OneTouch menu with personalized search icons lets you easily bookmark favorite destinations so you can access them anywhere you travel. Find your favorite café or restaurant in any city with a single touch. The RoadMate 1220 navigation device delivers your favorites at your fingertips.

User Reviews about Magellan RoadMate 1220 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

Seems like there are dozens of different navigation gps units out there. This one for the cost I could justify using it only once a month or so. Magellan may not get the credit that TOMTOM and Garmin get but this unit has done just perfect by me. -- Great little GPS

I wanted to get a basic easy to use unit for my wife and selected this item after checking reviews. We are very pleased with this model and amazed with all the information available besides basic maps; e.g. local sites, restaurants, gas stations. The unit also instantly recalculates the route if you don't take a turn. It takes some practice to learn how to help setup a route, such as taking a bypass instead of the shorter direct interstate route. But this is a very helpful unit to have when visiting a new place as you can go wandering and then always get back to where you started. It doesn't do fancy things like traffic updates and routing around traffic jams, but we were not looking for those features. Highly recommended for a basic unit. Very good value! -- Surprisingly smart for a basic unit

This is my first vehicle GPS. Overall I am very pleased. It doesn't do anything annoying that I have noticed with a few friends' GPSs, such as beeping or complaining if you go a bit off track or too fast. Many people complain about it doesn't actually say when it recalculates a route, but I'd rather for it to just tell me what the route is instead of a background task.

It also will repeat upcoming turns at a few set intervals, such as right when the previous turn was completed, at 2mi, and at .5mi. It will then make a jingle right when you approach the actual turn so there isn't that confusion if its this light or the next one.

There were also a bunch of complaints with the auto-zoom feature. I can understand if you like to have complete control over every aspect of the display, but I have never had a problem with it zooming in and out of an intersection. The auto zoom levels have always been pretty good for what I need.

The only thing I don't care for too much is it can take a bit for the initial start up. You need to think about turning it on right when you get in the car so its all set to go when you are. -- Good Nav for the Price

I have had GPS systems for a while now. Safe to say, I'm not new to how they should work, and I know what to look for. I went through Tom Toms and Garmins many times, and I finally decided on trying out a Magellan. (Tom Tom is the worst I have had, but that is my opinion - not user friendly)

The interface is very user friendly, which in the long run, that's what counts. I was able to find locations with quite ease, and this GPS offers "Quick Spell," which mean that as you type the name of your destination into the GPS, it will start guessing what you're typing in, and you can select your destination once it pops up.

I was surprised to see that such bargain priced GPS would have "Text to Speech." This mean that instead of saying "turn left in 500 meter/yards," it says "turn left on Baker Lane." I also liked that fact the phone number of many destination are available on the GPS. All you have to do is select phone icon next to your destination, and the number of the store/company comes up on the GPS screen.

It does not tell you when it's re-routing, and this can be good or bad, depend on the user. I like the fact, that if I pass my turn, it keeps quiet and just re-calculates a new route, vs. a Garmin will say out loud "Re-Calculating," and I found that to be quiet annoying, especially if I'm taking a back road, but like I said, some people like hearing that, I don't.

The mount is good. Nothing to say much about. It's just your regular suction cup mount that goes onto the windshield. They do offer some kind of dash mount, but I really didn't pay it much attention because I wasn't about to put any permanent marks on my car.

The screen isn't as bright as Garmin, which gives Garmin the edge but for the money you can make due. You can clearly see the screen, but when sun hits it directly, it can be hard to see. I just tilt the screen down some, when that happens; it's really nothing too serious.

Overall I would give this an 8 out 10. The screen could be bigger and brighter, but when looking at it as a GPS and for the money, it's really a great buy. If you have the money to spare, get a Garmin, but if you're trying to budget then this is your best bet.
-- It Comes In 2nd Place & That's Not Bad